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  • Thursday, June 18, 2009

    The Telluride Bluegrass Festival gets under way in beautiful Telluride, Colorado, today and runs through the weekend with a number of Nonesuch artists slated to perform and give last weekend's Bonnaroo lineup a run for its money. Performing are Emmylou Harris and Shawn Colvin with Patty Griffin and Buddy Miller for Three Girls & Their Buddy set, David Byrne, Toumani Diabaté with Béla Fleck, Punch Brothers (performing a bluegrass set and an all-Radiohead set), and Sara Watkins with Works Progress Administration. Emmylou Harris returns solo on Sunday night as the festival's final headlining artist.

    Journal Topics: On Tour
  • Thursday, June 18, 2009

    The Low Anthem and its recently released Nonesuch debut, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, are the subject of the latest Daytrotter Session, where you can hear four new live recordings by the band. Daytrotter takes a look at the "riveting" and "magnificent album," in particular its focus on the concept of survival of the fittest made famous by Charles Darwin, and the chaos inherent to it. It's a notion the band sets up right from the "lush, harmonious burst" of the album opener, "Charlie Darwin." This "powerful and moving opening song," the site asserts, "takes us through so much." There's also video of the band performing three songs at Baeble Music.

    Journal Topics: Reviews, Web
  • Wednesday, June 17, 2009

    Kronos Quartet's latest Nonesuch release, Floodplain, is out now. The New Statesman names it among the year's best, a "celebration of Middle Eastern, Balkan and African musical traditions, recast for string quartet to truly joyous effect." Songlines gives the album a perfect five stars, calling it "one of their most assertive statements in years." Billboard says "the album champions the rich sonic tapestries" of the regions it showcases, and the Detroit Free Press writes, "You can never predict where the intrepid Kronos Quartet is going next, but you can count on an interesting journey." MusicOMH interviews David Harrington, the music director of the group OMH calls "one of the world's busiest, eclectic, and perhaps most creative ensembles."

    Journal Topics: Reviews
  • Wednesday, June 17, 2009

    Pat Metheny settled into his home studio in New York City with a new baritone guitar one November evening in 2001 to experiment with a low "Nashville tuning." The result is the Grammy-winning One Quiet Night, now reissued on Nonesuch. Audiophile Audition gives the album four stars, describing it as "an intimate performance featuring Metheny's baritone guitar and his imagination ... a confidential, quiet affair, exemplified by the title track, which follows an unadorned template: extemporizing on a single melody and sustaining a solitary mood, in this case a lightly rural and rustic feeling."

    Journal Topics: Reviews
  • Tuesday, June 16, 2009

    Voltaic, the multimedia extravaganza in music and video celebrating Björk's two-year world tour following the 2007 release of Volta, is due for release from Nonesuch at the end of the month. Screenings of Voltaic's concert film component are set for cities across the US the week leading up to and around the June 30 release. And now you can catch a sneak peek at the whole project in a video preview at nonesuch.com/media.

    Journal Topics: Album Release, Video, Film
  • Tuesday, June 16, 2009

    Shawn Colvin's new Live album is due out next week. To celebrate, Nonesuch has teamed up with Martin Guitar to offer a brand-new X-Series guitar, signed by Shawn; three runners-up will win a free, signed copy of the CD. All orders of the album in the Nonesuch Store placed by July 21 (including previously placed orders) are registered to win and include, along with the album MP3s, the exclusive bonus download "Another Long One." The Detroit Free Press gives the album four stars, calling it "an intimate, career-spanning solo recording."

    Journal Topics: Album Release, Artist News, Reviews
  • Tuesday, June 16, 2009

    Just before the big Bonnaroo performance this past Saturday, Wilco played the first stop on its summer tour of the States, at Cincinnati's Aronoff Theater Friday. Featured in the set were songs from the band's catalog and its forthcoming Nonesuch release, Wilco (the album); the Observer gives the album four stars, as does SPIN, which calls it "fantastic." The Cincinnati Enquirer writes in its concert review: "Jeff Tweedy and his collection of virtuoso cohorts are at the top of their game, staking a claim as one of America’s most innovative and entertaining bands." MTV reports: "Unwrapping a handful of tunes from their new self-titled album, the band straight-up killed it, playing to a packed house of 2,700 who sang along to nearly every lyric."

    Journal Topics: On Tour, Reviews
  • Monday, June 15, 2009

    The Low Anthem, fresh off a multi-set stop at the Bonnaroo festival this weekend, are in New York City to celebrate the release of their Nonesuch debut, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, with a performance at the Bowery Ballroom tonight. The Observer Music Monthly gives the album four stars, exclaiming, "it soars, the title track especially"; Paste's Josh Jackson calls it "one of my favorite albums this year." The New York Times writes: "[T]he quieter the music gets ... the more its music inhabits its own otherworldly place, where ghosts and angels hover just out of view."

    Journal Topics: On Tour, Reviews, Video, Web
  • Monday, June 15, 2009

    After four days, 70,000-plus music lovers, and scores of A-list performers, the Bonnaroo music and arts festival has come to a close. Among the festival's performers were no fewer than seven Nonesuch artists. The New York Times calls the Wilco show "one of Bonnaroo’s most extraordinary sets." The Wall Street Journal describes The Low Anthem's "fine new album" as "both clever and affecting" and its live set as "moving, folk-based Americana." Pop Matters calls it "one of the most pleasant surprises" of the day and the trio's vocals "absolutely phenomenal and as pure as can be." Spinner calls them "one of the true breakout bands at Bonnaroo this year."

    Journal Topics: On Tour
  • Friday, June 12, 2009

    Ry Cooder kicks off European tour with Nick Lowe in Ireland ... Bill Frisell Trio try a trifecta in Rochester, Louisville, Philly ... Youssou N'Dour does Q&As for film screenings in NYC ... eighth blackbird performs Reich's Pulizer Prize-winning Double Sextet at Ojai Festival ... Bonnaroo welcomes Amadou & Mariam, David Byrne, Toumani Diabaté with Béla Fleck, The Low Anthem, Allen Toussaint, Sara Watkins, and Wilco, who starts its summer tour ... and more ...

    Journal Topics: On Tour
  • Friday, June 12, 2009

    The Nonesuch artist invasion of Bonnaroo, the big four-day music and arts festival in Manchester, Tennessee, began last night with an opening-night performance by The Low Anthem, which performs again this afternoon. Also performing today are Toumani Diabaté with Béla Fleck at The Other Tent's all-day program of African music, culminating in an evening set by Amadou & Mariam. David Byrne closes out the day's performances on the Which Stage and leads the first-ever artist-curated stage. On Saturday, Allen Toussaint plays two stages; Sara Watkins plays with Fiction Family; and Wilco, one of SPIN's "must-hear" acts there, plays a two-hour set on the What Stage.

    Journal Topics: On Tour
  • Friday, June 12, 2009

    The Low Anthem's Nonesuch debut, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, was released this week. Rolling Stone places it among "the year's best indie records." The Independent calls it "fascinating" and its opening tune "a gorgeous, fragile piece of work." The Guardian concurs, giving the album four stars and stating: "On the beautiful opener, 'Charlie Darwin,' and the startling 'To Ohio, the Low Anthem evoke a hushed, ethereal transcendence similar to the Cowboy Junkies' The Trinity Session. These are magical songs laden with imagery and poignancy." You can hear a live performance of "Ticket Taker" and a chat with the band on the latest New York Times "Music Popcast."

    Journal Topics: Album Release, Reviews, Web